Our Happy place,filled with giggles,unicorns and Superheroes!
Keeping up with Healthy eating and blogging 🙂
This was my dinner tonight – a bowl of kala chana(black gram) and a tall glass of buttermilk.
And I am so so sad to hear about Tarla Dalal’s demise. She was one of my favorite chefs.Really really sad 😦
More later…
Last month I signed up for this 28 day program with Jordan Lark of Evolutionary Health.This program gave me the kick start to get back on the clean eating wagon. The program ended on 31st October and I continued with clean eating.I say clean eating in the broadest sense of the word.But mostly I am trying to eat non-processed and low carb.I have been a little slack this week with Diwali and outings,but good overall.
Today we spent most of the day out.We left home after a Brunch of eggs,Sausage n toast and went to the Royal Botanic Gardens.A fun afternoon was spent walking around,splashing around the mini-stream at Ian Potter Children’s Garden and rounded off with some Ice-cream and burgers and wraps.After all the gluttony,my tummy wanted salvation and this salad came to the rescue.I mean what’s not to love when there’s beans,avocado,and the usual suspects that make a salad.
Interested,much? Read on for the recipe :
Ingredients: ( Makes 3 generous portions)
2 cans 4-beans or any beans of your choice ( drained and rinsed to get rid of excess salt
1 avocado (pitted and diced)
1/2 green capsicum-diced
1 small spanish onion,diced
1 medium sized tomato,diced
1 medium sized cucumber,diced
4-5 lettuce leaves,washed and torn.
rock salt,pepper
1 tsp lemon juice(optional)
Just toss everything together and chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes,before serving.
In the last 2 months,I have seen so many rainbows that I can’t help but wonder if its a sign of good times to come 🙂
The girls and I were fortunate enough to see a complete Double rainbow-like we literally walked into it..but as luck would have it,my phone had run out of battery,but we stood there,soaking in the view.
There were a few more partial rainbow spottings and they immediately cheered me up and I have really needed cheering up in the last month or so.
I recently spotted this one,in my backyard,nearly complete,but oh! so beautiful ..oh! so perfect!
I ran out to the front to see if I could get a better picture of it..I couldn’t see the complete rainbow,but I saw a second faint rainbow behind this one…Can you spot it?Just over the bright green leaves.
And yesterday,we were driving back from a friend’s place and we saw a rainbow…A complete rainbow..SO Perfect,such bright colors and so close to the car..I almost reached out to touch it. But,the phone was out of charge(AGAIN!!!)
But I don’t think I am going to forget the view in a hurry 🙂
I hope these photos make you smile,just as the rainbows made me smile 🙂
xx
Trish
Here’s Ms.Nanya,dressed up as Mickey Mouse 🙂
For her costume,I used –
Her black full sleeves T-shirt with a hoodie
Black tights( $4 from K-Mart)
Red shorts-I had a pair of red pants,a gift to Aadya,when she was 3.It was too small for her,so,I just put it aside for Baby#2(whenever,he/she appears!).So,I pulled those pants out of my bag of clothes too-good/new-to-be-thrown,and just shortened them to the desired length.
2 cotton pads for the white spots on Mickey’s shorts.You could even use white paint,but I couldn’t find my paints.
And lastly, Mickey Mouse ears($5 from the local Party shop-Let’s Celebrate Parties)
I used some facepaint to paint her nose and whiskers …Ta da..All done 😀
Every year,for Diwali,I host a one-dish potluck party.This year,thanks to my non-existing Diwali spirits,I didn’t plan anything. SD wanted a celebration,but I was in no mood for it. So, we accepted the invitations to others’ parties and so instead of playing hostess,I am playing guests 🙂 And that means,I get to bring them presents and that I get to create those presents*rubs her hands in glee*.
Now,everyone who knows me,know I love glass jars.I absolutely adore them. So I got a couple of Glass jars and filled them up with sweet and savory Diwali treats,tied a ribbon to the neck of each jar.And I am wishing someone gifted one of these to me 😀
I put a small square of baking paper between each layer.
This is the top-most layer-something sweet to start your Diwali with and it ain’t Diwali,if there are no lights,correct?
If you are looking for a last minute gift,look no more 🙂
Oh,just in case,you are wondering,everything in the Jar is out-sourced,but the packaging was done by me..:P
Happy Diwali and Prosperous New year,peeps 🙂
Its that time of the year..time to flick through the photo-copied version of my mom’s recipe book.Its so nice to see her handwritten recipes-its almost like she is telling me what to do..it also fills my heart with so much yearning for what could’ve been…There is so much more,I want to say about this..but today its time for the recipe..after all Diwali is almost here.So,here’s my mum’s Peanut barfi..I still remember nutty taste from so many years ago,as if I just ate it yesterday.
Here’s Mom’s recipe :
2 cups of wheat flour
2 cups of gram flour
1 cup of peanuts,
3 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup ghee
1 cup water
Preparation:
Roast the peanuts,remove the skin and grind it coarsely or finely as you like.
Melt some ghee in a pan and roast gramflour and wheat flour,one by one.
Take the sugar and water in a heavy bottom pan and bring it to a boil and then simmer for another 5 minutes,till you have a thick syrup.
Add the dry ingredients to the syrup and mix it properly,breaking the lumps if any.
If your mix looks dry,sprinkle some milk on it and mix again.
Spread this mix on a greased plate and mark the squares to cut into pieces.Let it set and then using a sharp knife,cut out the pieces,you already marked.
Now,take a bite of the yummy nutty treat.
Now for my healthier version:
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup gram flour
1/4 cup peanuts
6-8 tbsp ghee
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp water.
Do everything exactly the same way and you will still get around 18-20 slices of yumminess 🙂
Wish you all a very happy Diwali and a prosperous New Year!
I have been feeling a little under the weather..you know when you go through the motions but your heart isn’t in it?yeah that’s what I’ve been doing.A friend commented,while we were talking on the phone,that my laugh is different that it’s not the happy wholehearted one… I shot it down,but I know it’s true.
Diwali is less than 4 days away and I have only started decluttering now….hopefully as the clutter disappears,so will the cobwebs around my brain…I know it will work:)
I tried a new recipe from my mom’s cookbook today and it turned out nice..just as I remember…I’ll share the recipe tomorrow.I’ll take photos in the morning and post the recipe.
Oh!And I got a haircut and so did the girls 🙂
Have a look-see and please ignore the chipped nail-polish 🙂
More later,
XOX
Trish
After going back and forth,as I do,every year,around this time…I have finally booked myself and Ms.Anan for a hair cut.As much as I love her curls,they are hard to tame.So,they have to get a trim. As for me..
My hair looks nice on the days that I have time to run the Instyler or straightner through it.
But on most days,I don’t have the time to style it.And so,it looks like an ad for Frizzy hair. And I just feel so frumpy.So,I am thinking of getting a hair-cut..Not that the blow-waved perfection will last forever..but,still…so these are a few of my choices..
The middle one,but I am guessing,after its washed,it will look like the image on the left.LOL!
And this one -Love Madhuri 😀
Or this
And last but not the least,My favorite- Jennifer Aniston 😀
All the Images are Courtesy : Google Image Search
,except the first pic..that’s me 😀
Now,Can you please help me make up my mind and pick a style??
I look forward to hearing from you 🙂
XOXO
Trish
This morning,Ms.Aadya told me very seriously,”Mummy,I had a dream last night,that a robber had escaped from the Prison and came to our house and asked us for all our money.But we tricked him by saying,we have no money,only cards.”
I asked her,”Did the robber believe you?”
And she said,”Yes,he did..he wasn’t happy,but he believed it.Then,I told him that if you want some money,why don’t you do some charity instead of robbing people?”
“Charity?”,I asked her..and she said,”Yes,when you sell the stuff you don’t need”
LOL!!”No honey,that’s selling,Charity is when you give away stuff,without charging money for it”..I told her.
“Ohhhh I get it… if I get the dream again,I’ll tell the robber,to sell his stuff,next time!”
I have been de-cluttering and dividing stuff into three piles-toss,sell,charity..I think that’s where this funny confusion came from 😀
So that was the dream.Now the sketch.Aadi loves drawing,sketching.At any given time,you’ll see with a notepad and she’ll be scribbling drawing something.She was going through books after books.She used up all our printer papers.So,I was fed up..and asked her to show me what exactly was she drawing that she needed so many sheets of paper.And when she showed me,I was so impressed and proud of her!And the very next day,I went out and got her a BIG sketch book and a brand new set of sketch pens.These are some of her sketches.Her current obsession is the powerpuff girls and that shows 🙂
Please leave some words of encouragement for my budding little Artist 🙂
Aadi’s school had organised a Halloween-themed Disco today.And she decided to go as BatGirl .
I have decided readymade costumes are over-rated and DIY are more fun(for me).So,I went around finding the bits and pieces to make this costume.
I found the T-shirt ($16 on sale)at Target in the boys’ clothes section. It had a bonus cape with it.
Then I got a black mini skirt from Kmart($5).
She needed new tights,so got those from Kmart as well.($6)
And she wore her black sneakers,because BatGirl needs sneakers for speed.
I loved it how the whole costume came together…What do you think?
Coming up soon,Nanya’s costume…can you guess what she wants to dress up as?
15 Marbles 